


Where are you?

by Langs_ht



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Flash thompson - Freeform, Gen, My First Fanfic, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Panic Attacks, Peter Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Angst, Peter Parker Whump, References of Suicide, References to Depression, Suicidal Peter Parker, Suicidal Thoughts, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump, free falling, how did it end up like this, spiderman whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-08 17:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16433636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Langs_ht/pseuds/Langs_ht
Summary: Peter isn't doing so well. Months of isolation and self deprecating has made Peter depressed. What will it take for him to just feel normal again?





	1. Innocence

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, thank you for wanting to read my work! This is my first work and I really don't know where it's going to go. Please give me your thoughts and constructive criticism if you have any! Thanks a bunch! I'll try my best to make this a decent fic. <3
> 
> It could be a one shot but if people like where this is going,I will add more chapters!

     After another night of uneventful patrolling, Peter Parker let out a warm breath as he shot a string of webbing somewhere into the chilled night sky. Instantly, the sigh turned to fog as his escaping heat was thwarted by the outside temperature. He could care less about where the thread would actually land.

     With no crime to stop, Peter had taken a liking to swinging lazily across the city. Though that became boring soon enough, and he allowed himself to free-fall once, twice, now ten times. His boredom had been replaced with adrenaline earlier that night when he discovered a better past time.     

    In order to free-fall, he swung as high as he possibly could. Once in the air, he could see the shilouetts of the apartments and shops. Then, he willed himself to relax all of the muscles in his body which began his plummet towards the unforgiving cement below. 

     Peter would wait longer each time as he free-fell before shooting a web that would attach to something and save him from splatting like a smashed grape onto the cold city streets. 

     A thought gnawed at the back of his consciousness as he would plummet. It was a constant idea that grew louder and louder the closer he got to the pavement. 

   'Stay like this. Don't shoot your web. Just give up.'  
\------------  
     He didn't know when the thoughts first snuck into his mind. Perhaps during school where Flash would bully him relentlessly and never missed the opportunity to pummel him if given the chance.

 'You're worthless. No one cares about you.' 

     Of course that wasn't true though. Peter had lots of friends who cared for him. Ned--his best friend of forever who would always talk with him and share concepts that he had for different LEGO sets. May--who worked tirelessly but always found the time to hang out with her nephew. Mr. Stark-- a world famous billionaire who was also Iron Man, would often invite Peter to the Stark Tower to work on projects. 

Eventually though, the repetition of Flash's degrading outbursts and comments became Peters own internal thoughts. 'They only stick around you because they pity you." He would think to himself. 'Everyone pities the orphan.' 

     Or perhaps they were created when Ned had become friends with the new student in their class. Ned seemed to be genuinely excited when seeing his new friend walk into the classroom. 

'Ned never acts that way with you.' The voice would whisper to Peter when he watched them interact. 'Ned only uses you for your genius skills. Using you to get good grades.' 

Soon, their friendship had dwindled down to the acquaintance level. Peter had convinced himself that Ned had replaced him with the new student. In reality though, Peter had pushed Ned out of his life. 

That was months ago. Now, Peter was alone. No friends no family. He felt like too much of a bother. He actively ignored Tony's phone calls and texts. He put up a façade around May, becoming a hollow teenager under a happy mask.  
\---------  
   He ignored the thought, as he had become accustomed to doing.

Each time thankfully, the web would be shot out and adhere to the side of a rusted billboard, a crumby building, a lamp post. Anything high enough that would propell the teenager back high into the frosty air.  
   
     This time, it did exactly that albeit a little too late for Peter's comfort. The web that had been shot out had just now attached to a fire escape ladder on one of the nearby apartments. The thread instantly became taught as it latched onto the fire escape and Peter just then realized how close the ground actually was. Realization hit him not a moment to soon as a smooth metal rod collided painfully with his femur. Seething white light pulsated on the edges of Peter's vision as he fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

A lamp post. 

Spiderman just swung into a lamp post. 

     He couldn't believe what had just happened.  Had the nagging thought of suicide possessed him in that moment, or was he just too caught up in the adrenaline high to realize that he was a mere twenty feet off the ground when his web shooter fired? 

     Thankfully it was nearing midnight and there wasn't anyone on the street to have seen the event except for a lone cat who scurried off into an alley at the commotion. Peter sighed once again as he surveyed the damage. From what he could see and feel, his leg wasn't broken. Oh, would the bruising be a bitch though.

He stood and allowed a breath to escape his lips in a patch of fog. A smile twitched over his lips as he noticed the small cloud, yet it was hidden under his suit's fabric. 

   He breathed out again in childish wonder, his previous thoughts melting from his mind as he watched the fog dissipate into the air around it. 

"Amazing." He muttered quietly to himself as tiny flakes of pure white snow drifted down from the sky and onto the tainted sidewalk where Peter stood.


	2. Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting a bit too close to falling to his death, Peter has some serious thinking to do. Will he ask for help? Reach out to somebody? Or will he continue to hide his emotions and get worse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! So the last chapter wasn't supposed to get so depressing aha. But now I'm gonna roll with it. Again, if you enjoy this and want more, please leave a comment or a kudo! They really make my day when I see them.

A crow.

Caw. Caw. Caw. 

The alarm clock easily blocked out the sound from outside as it whirred to life, shrill sounds echoing through the cramped bedroom. 

Rolling over to turn it off, Peter groaned at the effort. Once his wiry fingers pressed one of the tiny buttons, the alarm abruptly quieted. 6:30 AM . His chocolate eyes flicked upwards from the digital clock to the flutter of a crow's wings against his window. 

The beady eyed bird stared at the teen, it's piercing black eyes taunting him. Peter stared back. A stare off. 

"Caw! Caw! Caw!" The bird screamed through the glass, startling Peter. 

"Ah, jeez!"the groggy male jumped at the sound, swatting his hand against the glass to shock the bird. It worked, as the crow had taken off into the pale grey sky.

Peter fell back onto his bed, eyes searching the ceiling for answers as he easily became trapped in his own mind. 

'You shouldn't go to school today. Why bother annoying everyone when you could just stay home?' He shook his head as soon at the thought entered it. He needed to attend his classes, his grades would suffer if he didn't. 

Grades. The only academic proof of him being a genius kid. If he didn't have the highest grade in his class, he would be a nobody. Just worthless Penis Parker, as Flash would say. 

Without his grades, Mr. Stark wouldn't care about him any more. Why would a billionaire want to hang out with a lousy freshman from a poor family in Queens, if not for the genius ideas that Peter shared with him?

He was startled out of his thoughts by the familiar sound of his alarm clock. What? Didn't he just turn it off? Turning his head to the side, he read the blinking red numbers. 7:45 AM.

He cursed at himself before slamming his palm onto the button once again, hurling himself out of bed as he did so. A dull pain ached throughout his right thigh as weight was put on it. Peter furrowed his eye brows in confusion, his palm rubbing against the cloth of his pj pants. Why did his leg hurt? 

Raising the cuff of his pant leg over his thigh so it curled upon his hip revealed the answer. A sickening array of color painted itself across his once fair skin. Deep purple gathered in a straight line across the center of the mess, followed by a spotted red which took up the majority of his thigh. Only on the outskirts of the bruise was there a rotted yellow. 

Oh right. Last night. 

He recounted the events in his head as he went throughout his usual routine albeit rushing. Nothing happened on patrol. He got bored. He swung around. He got reckless. He could have died. 

He shuddered at the final thought while he shrugged his frayed back pack onto his shoulders and headed out onto the busy street. 

Once arriving to his first class period, he took his usual seat next to his former best friend, Ned. Of course, the larger of the two was in a heated debate with his new best friend, Alec. From what Peter could hear, they were arguing about which avenger was the best. 

"Captain America is totally the best! Do you not see the way he fights?" Ned practically fell from his chair while he impersonated the Avenger. 

"No, no. What about Spiderman? He looks pretty cool, swinging around the city and stopping the bad guys." Alec responded, mimicking the way Spiderman shot his web shooters. "And anyways, Captain America was frozen for like 70 years. Isn't he a little out dated?"

Upon hearing his superhero name being brought into the conversation, Peter listened with a little more purpose. 

"Nah, Spiderman isn't even an Avenger." Flash butted in, straddling himself against the chair in front of Peter. Ned tossed a hidden glance at Peter, catching his hurt expression. "He's only a dude who follows the actual Avengers around and annoys them until they pity him an let him join in." 

He grinned with his usual cocky attitude, flicking Peter in the forehead. He didn't flinch, just stared at the tiled floor of the class room. Flash continued as he flicked, harder this time. "Just like Penis Parker! Always bugging us! No wonder he has no friends!"he announced to the class, eliciting a couple of stifled laughs from some other students.

The pencil he was holding eventually snapped as he shot himself out of the chair and grabbed his bag from the back of it before exiting the room. He wasn't going to allow himself to be humiliated by his entire class. Surely they were wrong, Peter had lots of friends. 

His quickened pace slowed to a crawl as realization dawned on him. He soon stopped in his place, head hung low as tears welled in his eyes. He had no friends, he had shut them out and pushed them away long ago. He had no intent of trying to make friends, and refused anyone who tried to socialize with him. 

His large tear drops exploded upon the impact with the tiled floor of the empty hall. Peter lowered himself into a crouching position, the tears flowing freely now. His shaking hands gripped at his curled locks of hair as he failed to stifle his sobs. His shoulders were heaving and shuddering when a firm hand was placed against them, a larger figure coming to crouch beside the shaking boy.

"Kid?..." A hesitant voice asked, laced with concern. 

Peter tore his wide eyes from the dirty tile, and lifted his gaze to meet the very worried expression of the one, the only, Mr. Tony Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Were in business now baby! Sorry if the chapter goes on for too long, I just kind of rambled. I really hope that it all came together in the end though aha. Alec is just a random character, he doesn't really have a purpose except to steal Ned away from Peter. 
> 
> Hopefully Stark will be able to help out little spider boy!
> 
> If you like it, please give me your Kudo and if you have a suggestion or want to share your thoughts, don't hesitate to leave a comment! <3


	3. Exposed Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How did Stark find Peter? Hmm...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad you are liking this story! I don't know if my chapters are too short? Let me ask, Would you rather have long, detailed chapters or the individual scenes I'm doing right now(that are shorter)? Also, if you want some comic relief, use the text to speech option on your phone/computer. It's worth it I promise.

Sprawled across the rusted table were various tools and metals. Tony had hidden himself in the workshop earlier in the week as he had been consumed in the design of a new prototype for the Iron Man suit. It had been months since the incident in Germany, and the billionaire was under the impression that Happy was still chatting with the Spider-Kid. Should he have been the one texting the teenager? Of course. Why wasn't he then? Because Peter had stopped responding to him a few months ago, and being the stubborn Stark he was, he refused to have a one-sided conversation with a moody teen. 

So when F.R.I.D.A.Y had dulled the blaring music he was listening to as he tinkered and explained that Happy had urgently requested to see him in the common room, Stark was confused. There was nowhere he needed to go today. Maybe Happy wanted a raise? Would he be quitting? No, he wouldn't do that. Reluctantly, the tired man forced himself to his feet, instructing the A.I to pause the song that was still blaring from the shop's speakers. When the silence that followed became palpable, Tony decided he couldn't delay the inevitable. 

Once he entered the common room, a nervous Happy Hogan met his tired gaze. The large man was wringing his hands together and his phone was placed beside him on the coffee table, the screen shining bright with old texts from the young spider. "Stark, I didn't read these... I didn't realize."

A wave of dread washed over the genius as he snatched the device from the table. "Christ, Happy. These are from months ago!" Tony practically shouted, flicking his thumb across the glass screen as endless incoming texts scrolled past his widened eyes. His action paused when he came across the most recent messages.

-August 3 3:00 p.m.-  
'Hey Hap! (: So I know that you're probably super busy and what not, but I was wondering if there were any new missions or anything? Like can I help you guys with anything? Well, see you later! Btw, it's Peter. Parker.'

There was no response text from Happy. Tony shot the stressed man a dissaproving glare.

-August 21 8:43 p.m.-  
'Yea, hey Happy! So I just helped give a lady some directions and stuff. its not really fun doing this anymore though. Are you sure theres nothing I can do with the avengers? Well, see you.'

Tony's face twisted into an unexplainable emotion at the shift of the teen's writing. His bubbly aura wasn't felt through these texts. Instead, there was a dark undertone. "Why did you never respond to him?" his sentence was meant to be a question but was replaced with a vicious demand. Happy flinched. 

"I..." The body guard shut his mouth as he thought about his next words carefully. "I... I got irritated of his constant texts after the fifth week of non-stop messages.. I marked him under mute on my phone. Shit, Tony I didn't know this would happen." the man confessed, hiding his face in his calloused hands.

"What do you mean?" Tony heard his voice rise. "What happened to the Kid?" he was silenced when Happy just told him to read on.

-September 28 5:09 a.m.-  
'i just dont understand what i did so wrong. i thought i did a great job in Germany but i guess not good enough huh? im real tired of this Happy. of just...everything. dont worry about responding (like you would). i wont bother you anymore.'

-October 27 10:59 p.m.-  
'maybe today will be the night. its a really pretty night yknow, Hap? no one wants a spider kid stopping crime anymore. theres actual cops for that. hopefully ill go thru with it.. then no one will be bothered by me any longer. see you.'

That message was sent just the other night. There were no messages after that. "Fuck!" Tony practically screamed into the air, flicking his wrist and watched as the suit came flying into the room, attaching itself to his shaking frame. Those weren't messages sent in anger towards the man who ignored him. They were messages for help. And Happy ignored them.   
"Where are you going, Tony?" Happy asked, lifting his head from its hold in his hands. 

"To see if my kid is still fucking alive!" Tony glared hatefully at the man as he took off into the dull morning sky. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, scan all articles from last night and today and tell me if there is anything about a suicide." His voice faltered as he said the final word. Surely Peter wouldn't have done it. Why would he when he had a support system? Ned, May, himself, hell, even the guidance counselor at the school. Why didn't he come to Tony at the very least? Maybe it was because Tony was a self-centered business man. That could be it. But why? Tony always had time for Peter. He would never let his kid suffer in silence. Why didn't he come to him? Well, he tried to reach out to Happy, but was ignored. He was ignored when he needed someone the most.

He felt a panic attack threatening to rise and quickly suppressed it. 'I can't freak out until I know.' He told himself, flying to the teenager's high school.

\--------

Upon landing, he immediately stepped out from the suit and made a mad dash towards the school's main entrance. Side stepping the awe-struck students and staff, Tony pushed forward to Peter's classroom. Endless nights in the lab talking about Peter's classes and assignments had allowed Tony to memorize the schedule of the teen's school day. Today was Wednesday and first period was just starting. Therefore, Peter would now have Chemistry. 

His frantic stride stalled to a halt as he heard a loud bang of a door hitting the wall. He whipped around to see a disheveled teen exiting a lab room, their back pack was barely on their shoulders as they hurried away from the laughter echoing from inside the class. The teen didn't get very far--just to the end of the narrow hall way--before his frame began to shake. Slowly at first but soon violently as he crouched to his knees, hands tugging at his hair. Tony could hear the teen's sobs and felt a twinge of worry course through him. 

Tony moved forward. With each step he took, he could hear the teen's breathing become more labored, his shoulders shaking with more force. His steps quickened. Recognition made him run. That was Peter. His Peter, curled in on himself in the middle of a dirty hallway in which no one came to his aide. 

His own breathing was heavy when he reached the teen. Damn, did he need to exercise more. Old age sucked. 

Wet sobs broke him from his self-pitying monologue. He crouched beside the teen, unsure of what to say. His hand reached up to rest upon the kid's shaking shoulder as tears welled up in his own eyes. He said the only thing that he could muster without allowing his feelings to show. There was a small crowd forming around them now, and he couldn't allow the strangers to see him being vulnerable. He took a shaky breath, willing his tears not to fall as he spoke. 

"Kid?..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! It all comes full circle haha. Are you liking this? Sorry if my dates don't correspond with the actual movie haha. Just for fun. I thought I'd get two chapters up as the weekend is nearly over and classes start again tomorrow. I have no idea what the upload schedule will be during the week. Maybe there won't be any. ):   
> Either way, don't be discouraged by the (possible) lack of updates during the week! I promise it will be updated on the weekends!
> 
> See you! <3


	4. Punishment and Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash's karma catches up to him. Tony has a conversation with Peter.

"Peter... What's the matter?" Tony asked, having had moved to crouch in the empty space across from the vulnerable teen. "What happened?" his hands slid from Peter's shoulders and moved onto the kid's tear-streaked cheeks. He could hear his own voice, soft yet firm. The older man needed answers. What--or who--did this to NYC's normally bubbly and carefree neighborhood Spider-Man? 

The dense crowd that had previously surrounded the two males had soon dissipated into a thin haze as the shrill school bell signaled the changing of classes. The only people still surrounding the two on the floor were a few teachers and students, Ned, Alec, and of course, an awe-struck Eugene.

"You! Y-You're Tony Stark!" The bully managed to sputter out, shaking himself from his dumb founded state. "Wh-Why are you here for Penis--Peter! For Peter Parker??"

Tony did not miss the cruel nick-name the student had called Peter and had tried to just cover up. Was this the boy who Peter talked about? The one who made his life a living hell? He must be, judging by the way Peter flinched when the male strode towards them.

"I am. You must be Flash Thompson?" Tony practically snarled, fingers combing gently through the sniffling teenager's hair. At least Peter had calmed down. Leaving his hand buried beneath his kid's curls for a moment, he sighed before standing to his full height, long strides bringing him to stand before the tanned boy. 

Judging by the shocked expression on the boy's face, Tony knew he was correct in his assumption. 

"I-It's actually Eugene." The kid had the guts to say to the already irate inventor.

"Listen here, Eugene." Tony spat out the student's name, bringing his hands to rest on the male's shoulders to keep him from leaving the coming onslaught. "I know what you have been doing to my so--intern. For your punishment, I will personally make sure that you are expelled from this high school, and barred from entering other technical schools in the state." Calloused fingers squeezed harshly at the boy's grey polo shirt. 

Flash shook under the action, opening his mouth to protest the man's promise. He was quickly cut off by the growl of Tony's voice. 

"Don't you even think of trying to change my mind, boy. Why should I show mercy to you, when you've shown absolutely none to Peter during these past few years?" Tony's hard glare bore into Flash's widened eyes. 

Flash just about looked like a fish out of water once Tony had finally finished berating him. When the billionaire's hands released him, the bully booked it from the now empty hall and into his next class. 

Grinning in his success, Tony wiped his palms across the thighs of his worn jeans. He would not allow his dastardly promise to fall short. But for now, Peter needed him.

"Peter?" Tony drawled quietly, crouching to meet the boy's gaze once again. The river of tears had since dried, the only evidence that the boy had been crying being the red, puffy rims of Peter's eyelids which were created by the boy's habit of rubbing his eyes when stressed. 

"Tony... why did you come here? I-I'm sorry that I haven't responded to your texts and stuff..."The boy flubbed out, soon rambling nonsense.

Tony sighed, his strong arms wrapping around the teenager, pulling him flush against his chest. "Peter, I want you to listen to me. I've read the messages you sent to Happy. I'm sorry that he didn't respond, but that wasn't on you. I didn't want you to join us on missions in fear that you would get hurt.." He felt the kid's face press against his dirty t-shirt and a flash of embarrassment crossed his eyes. In hind-sight, Tony should've changed his outfit before leaving the workshop. He hadn't showered in at least a week and changing outfits would've been the least he could've done. 

He continued to speak. "I'm sorry, Peter. I didn't know that you feel the way you do." He concluded his speech soon enough with a long sigh, his palm massaging small circles into Peter's back. If the action wasn't calming Peter, at least it was keeping Tony from spiralling into his own anxious thoughts. 

After continuing to sit on the dingy hallway floor, Tony decided it would be best for the teen to take the day off. "Kid, let's go to the compound. I'm sure that there's people there who would love to see you. How's that sound?" he asked, his chin having been rested on the crown of Peter's head. He waited for a response. When none came, he added, thinking back to the boy's messages; "I know that they would want to see you, Peter. You wouldn't be burdening them." 

With that, he recieved his answer; a weak, quiet nod from the boy in his lap, who was clinging to Tony as if his life depended on it.

Peter exhaled a shuddered breath, his fingers gripped tight in the fabric of his mentor's shirt. "Yeah. O-Okay.." he mumbled, allowing himself to be lifted to his feet by the inventor. 

As the two made their way towards the exit, a quiet thought crossed Peter's exhausted mind.

'Maybe things will get better?'

A smile teased his lips as he exited the school, tucked under the protective arm of Tony Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, at least I got something up! I've had a bit of a writer's block lately so I'm super glad I got this down! Hopefully Flash's karma lived up to your expectation haha. Probably won't update until the weekend. Please be patient! <3


	5. -Author's Note-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Important (old) Info. about the series.
> 
> EDIT: I UPDATED THIS SERIES, DONT PAY ATTENTION TO THIS CHAPTER.  
> (I'm just keeping it so I can look back on the lovely comments :) )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IGNORE THIS CHAPTER. I FINISHED THE WORK IN CHAPTER 6! :D

So, I don't plan on updating this anymore! Sorry for everyone who was really looking forward to this! I started writing this when I was in a really negative head space, and now that I'm doing really good, I don't know what to write about!

I'll probably update it if I get back in that mindset again, but for now, I'm just going to leave it like it is.

Thank you for liking/supporting this fic! 

Until next time,

Marcel

p.s if you guys genuinely want to have this continue, just comment below and I'll figure something out!


	6. A New Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After months of support from his friends, the Avengers, and his new therapist, Peter's mindset has improved greatly. What now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I updated and just wanted to say: IM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! I've been in a way better mindset lately and feel really bad for depriving all of you from this story you all seem to like. Shoutout to everyone who commented on the update chapter, your comments are really what sparked my interest in this story again. <3 AND shoutout to everyone who's been following this and waiting ENDLESSLY for this chapter!

'Maybe things will get better?' He thought as a smile teased his nervous lips.  
....  
And they did.

During the months that passed after Tony and Peter's eye-opening reunion, the pair easily decided things needed to change. The first habit to change was the lack of communication, from all parties. Happy could not ignore Peter, and Peter could not ignore Tony. And Tony? Well, he just needed to communicate more effectively. After a perfuse apology from Happy, and constant reassurances from Tony and all the other Avengers that Peter was not at all being a bother to any of them, and in fact they all loved Peter with a fierce pride; Peter decided to talk to Ned. 

That morning was filled with sounds of the city as Peter jogged to school. Bustling people, honking horns, the occasional yell, all kinds of diverse music flowing through the air; the city was never quiet and constantly on the move. Although Peter had a well-rested sleep, and ate a healthy breakfast, somehow the teen managed to be 15 minutes late out the door. He definitely needed to work on his time management skills, as May had also instructed him many years back. Luckily for him, though, the city was in his favor then as he miraculously arrived at the gates of Midtown High with five minutes to spare before the bell rang. 

Five minutes was a short amount of time in order to do his daily routine of putting his books away at his locker and preparing for other classes. Still, he'd managed to do it nevertheless. 

The bell rang and the mass of students crowding the hallway dissipated into various classrooms, and Peter followed suit. Swinging his now loaded back pack across his shoulders, the teen made his way to English Composition, another class he shared with Ned. Out of nowhere, a hard shoulder collided with Peter's, and the books the boy was holding tumbled to the tiled floor.

"Hey, watch it!" The voice of the shoulder growled before turning to Peter and, after realizing who they just hit, a curse was breathed out. Immediately the student was next to Peter, helping him pick up the fallen texts. "Sorry, Pen- Peter, I'll be more careful! Have a good day!" With that, the boy--now stripped of his tough façade-- collected the books and shoved them into Peter's arms before practically sprinting away from the teen. 

Ah, good ole Eugene. Peter shook his head at the former-bully's actions and smiled as he stood. Although Tony's threats fell short after giving Eugene a week's long suspension (mainly due to Peter practically begging Tony to not ruin the student's life), the reprimanding and empty promises that Stark gave the kid were enough to make the bully aware of what effects a pissed off billionaire inventor could have on his life. It definitely made him rethink some of his actions. Towards Peter, anyways. 

Upon entering the classroom, Peter took a seat next to Ned and Alec, taking a deep breath as he did so. The two boys were looking over notes and discussing what they did over the weekend. Alec was first to notice Peter, and he flashed the kid-genius a shy smile. 

"Good morning, Peter!" The blond student chimed out, setting down his notes to strike up a conversation. 

Ned joined in, following up with his invitation of "Hey Peter, we were just talking about a LEGO set we built over the weekend, you should totally come over and look at it!" He continued to add, " You can even join us in building the newest set my mom bought me a few weeks ago! We already started, but you can help finish it!"

Peter smiled bright at the invitation and inclusion by his friend and new acquaintance. "Of course, It will be really fun! What set is it?"

And the conversation continued, as did their friendships grow stronger. 

After rekindling his friendship with Ned and creating a new one with Alec, Tony thought it best for Peter to see a therapist. Someone to vent to, who would listen without judgement. The second change. Peter was hesitant at the thought, but trusted Tony's judgement, and an appointment was scheduled. Now after a few months have passed, Peter and his therapist, Dr. Blake are basically inseparable. Dr. Blake is someone Peter can trust, vent his emotions to and seek advising in. Today was no exception.

"Now Peter, how have things been lately? Spill the tea." Dr. Blake asked, notepad in his lap as he wrote today's date on the top corner. The older man had learned to adjust to Peter's quips and slang and --had to admit-- he felt pretty proud of learning what 'tea' meant. 

Peter sat across from him, relaxed and was amused by the man's new term. "The tea, Dr. Blake is that I like how you're incorporating my slang into your everyday discussions." The teen laughed with a bright smile as the doctor gave him his own shy grin. 

"Thank you, Peter." Dr. Blake pushed up his glasses higher onto the bridge of his nose before scribbling, 'learn more lingo' on the notepad, with a tiny smiley face drawn next to it. He smiled at his little face. "But, really, how have things been?"

Peter watched as the male drew the face, smiling to himself. "Things have been really good. Mr.Sta--Tony and I have been making little spider-bots in the lab, and they're super cute! They can climb around and even shoot little webs!" Peter was always sure not to get into specifics when talking about his alter ego life, and Dr. Blake thankfully didn't pry. "Alec, Ned and I entered a LEGO building competition a few days ago, and we're competing to see who can build a set the quickest! Isn't that cool?" He beamed as he saw Dr. Blake nod in agreement, his pen scribbling down some notes that Peter didn't bother reading. 

"And how are you, Peter? Any more intrusive thoughts or feelings lately?" His emerald eyes met the teen's with a firm look. Now wasn't the time to joke.

Peter felt the seriousness and shook his head, sitting up a little straighter. "No, not since I've been seeing you. If there ever is anything, I always tell you, you know that." 

The therapist searched Peter's gaze for a moment before writing on the notepad again. The soft beeping of a timer rang, signaling the end of their weekly session. 

"Peter, one last question!" Dr. Blake stood as the teen headed for the door. He moved to stand in front of Peter and gave him a nervous grin before taking a deep breath. Peter stared up at him, trying to figure out what the man was about to do. He took a step back as the doctor crouched down, hands outstretched towards the teen's feet. 

"WHAT ARE THOOOOOOSE?!" The therapist mocked the vine, looking to Peter's new crocs, decked out in Spiderman and Avenger pins. 

Peter stared aghast at his doctor, eyes wide at the action. He watched as Dr. Blake's eyes met his with an embarrassed expression of 'Did I do it right?'. 

"Those. Are. My. Crocs." Peter laughed loud, showing off his new shoes. "Aren't they cool? Ned and Alec helped me find the pins!" he exclaimed, displaying the various pins and explaining them to Dr. Blake, who was proud that he used a (dead) meme correctly. 

Turns out that things do will get better, they always do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooooooo! I'm super into Peter and Dr. Blake's relationship, what do you think of my characters, Alec and Dr. Blake? Should I include them in other stories? I think this is the final chapter of "Where Are You?" But I want to keep this storyline going into different works. Should I make this a series? (Is that how it works?) Let me know in the comments! Also, what would you like to see based on this storyline? Maybe more of Alec and Peter's friendship? Dr. Blake and Peter's relationship/sessions? LMK! Thanks! MP <3


End file.
